The Glisean War
The Gliesean War (or more commonly referred to as the Unsung War) was a period of total war between the Universal Peace Enforcement Organization and the newly discovered Gliesean Ecumene. While the war has been categorized as a state of total war in terms of the economy of both nations mobilized for the war effort, it was a limited war in terms of the theaters of conflict. The scale of the war was largely restricted within UPEO controlled space. The war began on the 15th of June 37 NE and ended on the 2nd of August 43 NE. The war was restricted within the newly discovered Gliesean System which was within the confines of UPEO and Axis controlled space. Prior to 37 NE, the Gliesean Ecumene has been largely isolated from the rest of the galaxy, confined within their star system which was comprised of at least nine other planets, including their homeworld: Gliese. The conflict was sparked by the colonization of three planets of the Gliesean system by the UPEO. At the time of the colonization the Ecumene was unknown to the UPEO and the system was uninhabited. Prior to the start of the war the Glieseans were a dormant civilization, placed under stasis for reasons unknown. On the 15th of June 11 NE, the Glieseans were abruptly awakened, only to discover that their homeworld had been terraformed and colonized. Outraged the Ecumene launched and declared an all out war against the colonists who had unwittingly settled upon the Gliesean homeworld and awakened them. The Ecumene sent a message to UNSC forces in the area, stating their intentions to expand the Ecumene and exterminate all other forms of life to ensure Gliesean dominance and security in the galaxy. Over the course of the next five years, UNSC forces in the Gliesean System fought a losing battle against the Ecumene. It was not until the final months of 40 NE did the UNSC were able to replicate and improve upon the technologies captured from the Ecumene, which allowed the UNSC to eventually push back the Ecumene back to their homeworld and their eventual unconditional surrender. Currently the Gliesean System is a quarantined system, with an extensive presence of automated drones and fortresses operated by the UNSC to ensure that quarantine of the system remains in force. The Gliseans were stripped of their technology and were de-evolved from a Tier 1, to a Tier-7 pre-industrial civilization. Background Since its founding in 1850 BNE, the UPEO has embarked upon a program of expansion and colonization of other star systems in order to sustain its growing population and economy. However, ever since 500 BNE, the UPEO has been able to maintain a stable population growth without resorting the need to expand any further. The UPEO has also largely discovered all star systems within the confines of its territory and neighboring star systems outside its territory. However on 5 NE astronomers from the Universal Science & Technology Administration discovered a new star system within the territory of the UPEO. Furthermore, the new star system was situated only 11 Light Years away from Laptev. How a star system close by to Laptev managed to elude the eyes of astronomers for nearly a millenia stunned the USTA community. One year later on 6 NE, the USTA launched an expedition into the star system to determine if it was occupied by yet another undiscovered civilization or not. Initial findings showed no signs of any advanced civilizations. Satisfied that the new star system was uninhabited the Colonial Administration Authority (CAA), whose powers had been significantly reduced since the formation of the Independent Systems Alliance (ISA), embarked upon a program of rapid colonization of the Glisean system. Planets were rapidly terraformed and colonists settled on them. Most of these colonists came from ISA worlds who sought new opportunities, especially since this was the first colonization program since 500 BNE. The CAA was eager to regain some of its political power in the House of Committees, especially after it lost control of the outer colonies to the ISA which was why it embarked upon a program of rapid colonization. In less than three years the CAA had colonized seven of nine planets in the Glisean system. While the UNSC had stationed garrisons across the system, most of the planets relied upon the colonial militia for terrestrial defense. Awakening the Glisean Ecumene Industrailization and urbanization was a part of the CAA's plan to establish the Glisean colonies as the next economic hub of the UPEO. The colonization efforts had rapidly transformed the planets of the Gliese system. Unknowingly however, the Gliseans, who had been dormant and laid in stasis, suddenly awoke from their stasis. What caused them to reactivate was unknown. However what was known was that the Gliseans were not pleased upon discovering that their planets had been colonized and even terraformed by aliens. Caught off guard, the colonial militias were caught off guard by the Ecumene's surprise attack. The Gliseans are an aquatic civilization and they launched surprise attacks from the oceans, lakes and beaches. The colonists on the Glisean homeworld (Gliese) suffered the brunt of the attacks. Other colonies soon fell under attack as the Gliseans who laid in stasis were slowly reactivated. In less than 48 hours, nearly 60% of Gliese and a quarter of its colonists had been recaptured and killed by the Ecumene. Similar statistics were also recorded on the other colonies. Factions The Universal Peace Enforcement Organization The Universal Peace Enforcement Organization (UPEO) is a unitary interstellar militarized police state whose population is comprised primarily of humans. However a substantial minority population of humanoids and non-humanoids also reside in the UPEO. The military arm of the UPEO is known as the United Nations Space Command. Technologically speaking the UPEO's advancements in technology has not been equal. It still relies primarily upon projectile based weaponry but at the same time the UPEO has a near-full understanding of slipspace physics which allows them accurate and extremely fast slipspace travel. The UPEO is also capable of creating fully sentient smart Artificial Intelligence systems without the need of brain from a donor. The branch of the UPEO responsible for colonization and expansion is known as the Colonial Administration Authority. Colonial Administration Authority The Colonial Administration Authority (CAA) is a branch of the UPEO's central civilian government that is responsible for coordinating and initiating all colonization, expansion and terraforming efforts of the UPEO. The CAA's influence and role has been considerably reduced since the establishment of the Independent Systems Alliance (ISA) which was a confederacy of a large number of the UPEO's newer outer colonies, replacing the CAA as their official representative in the UPEO's parliament. Eager to regain the prestige and influence it once had, the CAA aggressively launched the colonization program of the Gliesean system within an extremely quick period of time. After the end of the war the public demanded how the CAA's initial exploration of the Gliesean system had failed to detect the presence of the Gliesean Ecumene. The war and subsequent investigation greatly reduced the public's trust and confidence in the CAA. The CAA's budget has been slashed and its role sidelined to maintaining a book of records of all of the UPEO's colonies. Its role and influence diminished further even before the war began. Gliesean Ecumene The Gliesean Ecumene (commonly referred to as the Ecumene) was the governing body of the Gliesean species and civilization. The Gliesean species itself is an aquatic humanoid standing on average at 2 meters tall and possessing near identical features that humans have. The main difference is a Gliesean's skin is either blue, green or cyan colored, and they possess gills which allows them to breath in water. Their hands and feet are finned which greatly helps them swim through water. The Gliesean Ecumene was an authoritarian cultural hegemony led by an Empress who is aided by a single house legislative body known as the Imperial Council that is led by a Political and Morale Commander. The Ecumene possess two military arms: the Imperial Gliesean Army and Imperial Gliesean Navy, each led by a Lord of Generals and Lord of Admirals respectively. The Empress is the commander-in-chief of both branches of the Ecumene's military. Both the Imperial Army and Navy utilize unmanned war machines as their primary method of waging war. These war machines are often led by a small number, if not a single commander into battle. Very rarely do individual Gliesean warriors participate in a front line battles. Like UNSC soldiers, the Gliesean warriors also utilize an extremely advanced form of combat skin which greatly enhances its users strength, agility and endurance. It also allows the user to withstand extreme conditions for a prolonged period of time. While the functions and purpose of the Gliesean's combat skin is similar to those used by the UNSC, the Gliesean's combat skin is technologically superior than its UNSC counterpart. The standard Gliesean combat skin is able to outclass the most modern combat skin worn by a UNSC soldier. The Gliesean's possessed a high level of technologically than the UPEO, and arguably than the rest of the known galaxy. Their technology was based primarily upon neural physics and directed-energy weapons, they posses a near-transcendent understanding of slipspace technology. Being an aquatic species the Glieseans technology were based upon the properties of water. They were known to be capable of manipulating water down to the mollecular level. Glieseans were able to transform water into any of its known solid, liquid and gas forms. They were even capable of (by using amplifiers) moving a large amount of water as demonstrated in the Ecumene's initial attack on Retaliation Day when they created Megatsunamis and sent them towards the UPEO's coastal cities. Timeline Opening Shots Retaliation Day Location: Gliese In the morning of June 15th, 37 NE, large detonations were reported in the oceans of Gliese. These detonations were powerful enough to generate Megatsunamis which headed for most, if not, every coastline of Glises. Accompanying the Megatsunamies were hundreds of Leviathans, the Ecumene's giant unmanned weapons platform emerged from the depths of Gliese's oceans. Initial reports of the Megatsunamies indicated that the CAA believed these were caused by natural causes. It was not until the arrival of the Leviathans did the CAA understood they were under attack by a highly advanced indigenous civilization. The Megatsunamies devestated the coastlines of Gliese, any human cities that were located at the coastline were obliterated. The waves also moved nearly several hundred kilometers inland as well. The swiftness of the attack left little to no time for the CAA to organize a proper counter attack, nor did they have time to warn the colonists. Warnings would not be issued to the other colonies until an hour later when UNSC forces who led rescue efforts came under fire and were massacred by the approaching Leviathans and its Keltak escorts. Over the course of the next 24 hours, more of the Ecumene war machines appeared across the globe and destroyed any traces of human footprints on the planet. Within the first three days, UNSC forces were routed and in full retreat to regroup. The events of June 15th is now commonly referred to as 'Retaliation Day', an alusion to the fact that Ecumene retaliated and that they were not the invaders. The humans were the invaders. Re-assertion of Ecumene dominance After the Megatsunamis and first attack waves wiped out a quarter of all of the colonies population, the Ecumene initiated ground operations to reclaim their territories. The backbone of the Ecumene's armed forces were comprised of automated machines of various types which allowed the Ecumene forces to continue their advances without the need to rest. Twenty minutes after the first megatsunami inundated the land, Ecumene forces sweeped the coastline in search of survivors. Those found were executed. UNSC garrisons that were located further inland began to organize a counter-attack. However, due to their diminished numbers, the UNSC were unable to offer much resistance although human forces were able to hold out against continued Ecumene attacks until the UNSC were able to re-initiate planetside operations with the arrival of new assets later on in the war. Regrouping Due to the Ecumene's sudden uprising and awakening the UNSC was caught off guard by their attack. However, by R-Day +6, the UNSC had been able to send reinforcements into the system. At around the same time, satisfied that UNSC forces that were planetside posed little to no threat to their domination, the Ecumene began send its warships to space and engaged with the UNSC Navy. The Ecumene's war machines proved to be technologically superior to the UNSC Navy's warships that were stationed in the system. Most of the Navy's ships were comprised of light capital warships and patrol ships. Leviathans, giant automated weapon platforms whose sizes ranged from Corvette sized 400 meters long, to gargantuan 2.5 kilometer in length tore through the UNSC's planetary blockade. By the time UNSC reinforcements arrived to assist the garrisons, the Ecumene had regained control over their respective planets air space. UNSC forces in space were pushed to the edges of the system where they had been able to hold their ground due to their higher numbers. Over the course of the next two years, the Ecumene would have launched more than a hundred attempts to break through the UNSC blockade that surrounded their system. Negotiation Since R-Day +2, the UPEO had attempted to contact the Ecumene through all known methods of communication, to which all ended without a reply, or any sign that the Ecumene had received or understood the messages the UPEO had sent. The UPEO had tried to inquire about why the Ecumene launched an attack and how could they work to resolve the conflict. Finally, on R-Day +31, the UPEO received a transmission from the Ecumene. Fleet Admiral Glory Unto Dawn, the highest ranking officer of the UNSC Navy, who was also placed in command of the war effort represented the UPEO. From her flagship in the blockade, the Fleet Admiral received the following message: "You and your kind are plague. A disease that must be eradicated from existence, and we will not stop until every trace of your civilization is wiped clean. Those, and others like you, shall burn." Ever since the transmission was received, the UPEO began an ambitious program to ensure that the war with the Glieseans would be contained within the Gliese System, and that they would ensure that in the end, the Ecumene would no longer pose a threat to the established galactic community. A major factor that prolonged the Gliesean War was the fact that the UPEO had no means to directly contact the Ecumene's leadership to discuss ending the war through diplomatic means. The Ecumene did not respond to any hails that the UPEO sent on all known methods of communication. Blockade of the Gliesean System With the intention of the Ecumene made clear, the UNSC dedicated a significant amount of their resources in containing the threat. The UNSC jammed incoming and outgoing transmissions from the Gliesean system and declared the entire system as a restricted area from all civilian traffic. In the first two years of the war (37-39NE) the Navy had dedicated the 3rd and 4th armadas to maintain the blockade of the Gliesean system, a total of at least ten thousand warships. The UNSC was severely outmatched in terms of technology which allowed the Ecumene to gain the upperhand in the early stages of the war. The UNSC was only able to maintain the blockade as it outnumbered the Ecumene's forces ten to one. Until the UNSC's counter-attacks in late 40NE, the Navy's objective was to prevent the Ecumene from breaking out from the Gliesean system by any means necessary. As a result, hundreds and thousands of men and women lost their lives in the process. By the time the UNSC began its counterattack to recapture and rescue personnel who were isolated on the planets within the system, the 3rd and 4th armadas would have lost 80% of their ships. The blockade was known as the Maginot Line and it would be attacked five times throughout the course of the war by the Ecumene as they attempted to spread from their home system. Planetside warfare With most of their forces wiped out, the survivors of the initial onslought hid across the planets that they once called home. These survivors were the lucky few who were not near the coastal areas of their planet in Retaliation Day. Military forces that survived played a vital role in rallying the survivors to initiate guerilla warfare against the Ecumene forces. Through the next two years, surviving UNSC forces attacked vital Ecumene installations such as shipyards, communication facilities and factories. Operation Lifeboat Operation Lifeboat was a major operation launched by UNSC forces in the Gliesean system to evacuate as many civilian and military personnel as possible from the Gliesean system and into the safe zones beyond the Maginot Line.